diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index e5f7e7a8e..319906a6c 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@
 * Add API `FSDirectory::FsyncWithDirOptions()`, which provides extra information like directory fsync reason in `DirFsyncOptions`. File system like btrfs is using that to skip directory fsync for creating a new file, or when renaming a file, fsync the target file instead of the directory, which improves the `DB::Open()` speed by ~20%.
 * `DB::Open()` is not going be blocked by obsolete file purge if `DBOptions::avoid_unnecessary_blocking_io` is set to true.
 
+### Performance Improvements
+* Released some memory related to filter construction earlier in `BlockBasedTableBuilder` for `FullFilter` and `PartitionedFilter` case (#9070)
+
 ## 6.26.0 (2021-10-20)
 ### Bug Fixes
 * Fixes a bug in directed IO mode when calling MultiGet() for blobs in the same blob file. The bug is caused by not sorting the blob read requests by file offsets.
diff --git a/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.cc b/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.cc
index bb931cb2b..a6ee462de 100644
--- a/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.cc
+++ b/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.cc
@@ -117,9 +117,10 @@ inline void BlockBasedFilterBlockBuilder::AddPrefix(const Slice& key) {
   }
 }
 
-Slice BlockBasedFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(const BlockHandle& /*tmp*/,
-                                           Status* status) {
-  // In this impl we ignore BlockHandle
+Slice BlockBasedFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(
+    const BlockHandle& /*tmp*/, Status* status,
+    std::unique_ptr<const char[]>* /* filter_data */) {
+  // In this impl we ignore BlockHandle and filter_data
   *status = Status::OK();
 
   if (!start_.empty()) {
diff --git a/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.h b/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.h
index 0b46cd7c1..fd20df846 100644
--- a/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.h
+++ b/table/block_based/block_based_filter_block.h
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ class BlockBasedFilterBlockBuilder : public FilterBlockBuilder {
     return start_.empty() && filter_offsets_.empty();
   }
   virtual size_t EstimateEntriesAdded() override;
-  virtual Slice Finish(const BlockHandle& tmp, Status* status) override;
+  virtual Slice Finish(
+      const BlockHandle& tmp, Status* status,
+      std::unique_ptr<const char[]>* filter_data = nullptr) override;
   using FilterBlockBuilder::Finish;
 
  private:
diff --git a/table/block_based/block_based_table_builder.cc b/table/block_based/block_based_table_builder.cc
index 2a98609d5..a704007af 100644
--- a/table/block_based/block_based_table_builder.cc
+++ b/table/block_based/block_based_table_builder.cc
@@ -1542,8 +1542,17 @@ void BlockBasedTableBuilder::WriteFilterBlock(
         rep_->filter_builder->EstimateEntriesAdded();
     Status s = Status::Incomplete();
     while (ok() && s.IsIncomplete()) {
+      // filter_data is used to store the transferred filter data payload from
+      // FilterBlockBuilder and deallocate the payload by going out of scope.
+      // Otherwise, the payload will unnecessarily remain until
+      // BlockBasedTableBuilder is deallocated.
+      //
+      // See FilterBlockBuilder::Finish() for more on the difference in
+      // transferred filter data payload among different FilterBlockBuilder
+      // subtypes.
+      std::unique_ptr<const char[]> filter_data;
       Slice filter_content =
-          rep_->filter_builder->Finish(filter_block_handle, &s);
+          rep_->filter_builder->Finish(filter_block_handle, &s, &filter_data);
       assert(s.ok() || s.IsIncomplete());
       rep_->props.filter_size += filter_content.size();
       WriteRawBlock(filter_content, kNoCompression, &filter_block_handle,
diff --git a/table/block_based/filter_block.h b/table/block_based/filter_block.h
index 1c0b7a5fa..55ab254d9 100644
--- a/table/block_based/filter_block.h
+++ b/table/block_based/filter_block.h
@@ -73,7 +73,14 @@ class FilterBlockBuilder {
     assert(dont_care_status.ok());
     return ret;
   }
-  virtual Slice Finish(const BlockHandle& tmp, Status* status) = 0;
+  // If filter_data is not nullptr, Finish() may transfer ownership of
+  // underlying filter data to the caller,  so that it can be freed as soon as
+  // possible.
+  virtual Slice Finish(
+      const BlockHandle& tmp /* only used in PartitionedFilterBlock as
+                                last_partition_block_handle */
+      ,
+      Status* status, std::unique_ptr<const char[]>* filter_data = nullptr) = 0;
 };
 
 // A FilterBlockReader is used to parse filter from SST table.
diff --git a/table/block_based/full_filter_block.cc b/table/block_based/full_filter_block.cc
index 0e336c37f..9803acf99 100644
--- a/table/block_based/full_filter_block.cc
+++ b/table/block_based/full_filter_block.cc
@@ -101,14 +101,17 @@ void FullFilterBlockBuilder::Reset() {
   last_prefix_recorded_ = false;
 }
 
-Slice FullFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(const BlockHandle& /*tmp*/,
-                                     Status* status) {
+Slice FullFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(
+    const BlockHandle& /*tmp*/, Status* status,
+    std::unique_ptr<const char[]>* filter_data) {
   Reset();
   // In this impl we ignore BlockHandle
   *status = Status::OK();
   if (any_added_) {
     any_added_ = false;
-    return filter_bits_builder_->Finish(&filter_data_);
+    Slice filter_content =
+        filter_bits_builder_->Finish(filter_data ? filter_data : &filter_data_);
+    return filter_content;
   }
   return Slice();
 }
diff --git a/table/block_based/full_filter_block.h b/table/block_based/full_filter_block.h
index bf8e24cc9..fc4dd9f5a 100644
--- a/table/block_based/full_filter_block.h
+++ b/table/block_based/full_filter_block.h
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@ class FullFilterBlockBuilder : public FilterBlockBuilder {
   virtual void Add(const Slice& key_without_ts) override;
   virtual bool IsEmpty() const override { return !any_added_; }
   virtual size_t EstimateEntriesAdded() override;
-  virtual Slice Finish(const BlockHandle& tmp, Status* status) override;
+  virtual Slice Finish(
+      const BlockHandle& tmp, Status* status,
+      std::unique_ptr<const char[]>* filter_data = nullptr) override;
   using FilterBlockBuilder::Finish;
 
  protected:
diff --git a/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.cc b/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.cc
index 563b677a7..4808a1547 100644
--- a/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.cc
+++ b/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.cc
@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ void PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder::MaybeCutAFilterBlock(
   if (!p_index_builder_->ShouldCutFilterBlock()) {
     return;
   }
-  filter_gc.push_back(std::unique_ptr<const char[]>(nullptr));
 
   // Add the prefix of the next key before finishing the partition without
   // updating last_prefix_str_. This hack, fixes a bug with format_verison=3
@@ -88,9 +87,10 @@ void PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder::MaybeCutAFilterBlock(
   }
 
   total_added_in_built_ += filter_bits_builder_->EstimateEntriesAdded();
-  Slice filter = filter_bits_builder_->Finish(&filter_gc.back());
+  std::unique_ptr<const char[]> filter_data;
+  Slice filter = filter_bits_builder_->Finish(&filter_data);
   std::string& index_key = p_index_builder_->GetPartitionKey();
-  filters.push_back({index_key, filter});
+  filters.push_back({index_key, filter, std::move(filter_data)});
   keys_added_to_partition_ = 0;
   Reset();
 }
@@ -110,10 +110,10 @@ size_t PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder::EstimateEntriesAdded() {
 }
 
 Slice PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(
-    const BlockHandle& last_partition_block_handle, Status* status) {
+    const BlockHandle& last_partition_block_handle, Status* status,
+    std::unique_ptr<const char[]>* filter_data) {
   if (finishing_filters == true) {
     // Record the handle of the last written filter block in the index
-    FilterEntry& last_entry = filters.front();
     std::string handle_encoding;
     last_partition_block_handle.EncodeTo(&handle_encoding);
     std::string handle_delta_encoding;
@@ -122,14 +122,13 @@ Slice PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(
         last_partition_block_handle.size() - last_encoded_handle_.size());
     last_encoded_handle_ = last_partition_block_handle;
     const Slice handle_delta_encoding_slice(handle_delta_encoding);
-    index_on_filter_block_builder_.Add(last_entry.key, handle_encoding,
+    index_on_filter_block_builder_.Add(last_filter_entry_key, handle_encoding,
                                        &handle_delta_encoding_slice);
     if (!p_index_builder_->seperator_is_key_plus_seq()) {
       index_on_filter_block_builder_without_seq_.Add(
-          ExtractUserKey(last_entry.key), handle_encoding,
+          ExtractUserKey(last_filter_entry_key), handle_encoding,
           &handle_delta_encoding_slice);
     }
-    filters.pop_front();
   } else {
     MaybeCutAFilterBlock(nullptr);
   }
@@ -137,6 +136,7 @@ Slice PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(
   // partitions
   if (UNLIKELY(filters.empty())) {
     *status = Status::OK();
+    last_filter_data.reset();
     if (finishing_filters) {
       // Simplest to just add them all at the end
       total_added_in_built_ = 0;
@@ -154,7 +154,15 @@ Slice PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder::Finish(
     // indicate we expect more calls to Finish
     *status = Status::Incomplete();
     finishing_filters = true;
-    return filters.front().filter;
+
+    last_filter_entry_key = filters.front().key;
+    Slice filter = filters.front().filter;
+    last_filter_data = std::move(filters.front().filter_data);
+    if (filter_data != nullptr) {
+      *filter_data = std::move(last_filter_data);
+    }
+    filters.pop_front();
+    return filter;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.h b/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.h
index 6393a25ca..94c6a9b95 100644
--- a/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.h
+++ b/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
+#include <deque>
 #include <list>
 #include <string>
 #include <unordered_map>
@@ -36,8 +37,9 @@ class PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder : public FullFilterBlockBuilder {
   void Add(const Slice& key) override;
   size_t EstimateEntriesAdded() override;
 
-  virtual Slice Finish(const BlockHandle& last_partition_block_handle,
-                       Status* status) override;
+  virtual Slice Finish(
+      const BlockHandle& last_partition_block_handle, Status* status,
+      std::unique_ptr<const char[]>* filter_data = nullptr) override;
 
  private:
   // Filter data
@@ -47,10 +49,13 @@ class PartitionedFilterBlockBuilder : public FullFilterBlockBuilder {
   struct FilterEntry {
     std::string key;
     Slice filter;
+    std::unique_ptr<const char[]> filter_data;
   };
-  std::list<FilterEntry> filters;  // list of partitioned indexes and their keys
+  std::deque<FilterEntry> filters;  // list of partitioned filters and keys used
+                                    // in building the index
+  std::string last_filter_entry_key;
+  std::unique_ptr<const char[]> last_filter_data;
   std::unique_ptr<IndexBuilder> value;
-  std::vector<std::unique_ptr<const char[]>> filter_gc;
   bool finishing_filters =
       false;  // true if Finish is called once but not complete yet.
   // The policy of when cut a filter block and Finish it
diff --git a/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block_test.cc b/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block_test.cc
index 7b4d49baf..7def5f250 100644
--- a/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block_test.cc
+++ b/table/block_based/partitioned_filter_block_test.cc
@@ -136,8 +136,9 @@ class PartitionedFilterBlockTest
     BlockHandle bh;
     Status status;
     Slice slice;
+    std::unique_ptr<const char[]> filter_data;
     do {
-      slice = builder->Finish(bh, &status);
+      slice = builder->Finish(bh, &status, &filter_data);
       bh = Write(slice);
     } while (status.IsIncomplete());